'It will be on your head': Parking fears cause father to issue desperate plea to parents in Hawarden

Councillor says situation outside Hawarden school "arguably one of the worst in Flintshire"

Parents Richard Hebden and Dawn Carr fear a child will be injured or killed outside Hawarden Village Church School if something is not done about the current parking situation.

Share

Get daily updates directly to your inbox

Thank you for subscribing!

Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email

A father from Hawarden has issued a desperate plea to parents that he claims are putting the lives of young schoolchildren at risk with irresponsible parking.

Richard Hebden has branded parking outside Hawarden Village Church School as ‘ridiculous’ and says that it is only a matter of time before a child is hurt.

He said: “People are parking on yellow lines, zigzags, pavements and ‘Keep Clear’ markings – they don’t seem to realise how dangerous it is and that they’re breaking the law.

“A few weeks ago my brother who lives in London had to give CPR to a girl who had been hit by a car near a school and she sadly died.

“The parking situation outside Hawarden Village Church School is much worse and I am worried it will happen here. It’s ridiculous.”

Richard, who has two children at the school himself, says he has been verbally abused by some parents after confronting them about their parking.

He has now started a campaign on Facebook to try and highlight the issue and show people how bad the situation is getting.

He added: “I’m doing this to protect other people’s children as well as my own.

“I have been in contact with the local PCSO and also Mark Tami MP.

“There is parking five minutes from the school and it angers me that some people can be so selfish, lazy and inconsiderate.

“I’m sick of telling people that someone will get killed and when it does it will be on their head.”

Cllr Helen Brown is also offering her support to the campaign.

She added: “The parking outside Hawarden Village Church School is arguably some of the worst in Flintshire.

“Its a complete nightmare down there – you’ve got to see it to believe it.”

“I really think that people just don’t see the dangers.

“You can tell a child to look left and right but they are so excited to get out of school sometimes they run off and that’s when something bad could happen.”

Mum-of-three Dawn Carr has been involved with the school for 11 years.

She was previously part of a working group to try and improve safety outside the school and says she has been verbally abused on many occasions for trying to stop people parking illegally.

She said: “We had double yellow lines put outside the school which people just ignore despite a plea from the children themselves who made banners and posters for the school gates.

“I can’t count the times me and my children have nearly been run-over – we’ve been very lucky so far but there have been lots of near misses.”

Mark Tami MP confirmed he was aware of the problem and had written to the police and council about it.

A spokesman for Flintshire County Council said: “The council’s civil parking enforcement team have been monitoring the situation regarding vehicles parked on the mandatory ‘school keep clear’ markings and will be issuing fixed penalty tickets to motorists contravening these restrictions.”

Hawarden Village Church School headteacher Lynn Bartlett was unavailable for comment.